Q: With people struggling financially I am finding it increasingly difficult to cross-sell insurance products with my mortgage cases. How can I make clients appreciate the importance of such products?
A: Cross-selling can achieve great results and can help cement a lasting relationship with your client. As the insurance expert, your main priority should be to educate your client about the benefits of your advice over them going it alone. The place to start is with a really good understanding of your client and their specific situation.
Firstly, get to know your clients and find out what’s important to them so you can help choose and tailor the right insurance products to suit their specific needs.
Most people are put off insurance because they think it won’t pay out when they need it to – explain that buying insurance through you means you can check the policy is suitable for them. It also means you’ll be on hand to offer support and advice should they need to claim.
Many customers will simply be looking for the lowest premium, and thinking they can get the best price online. In this case you will need to educate the client that all insurance products are not the same and less cost will generally mean less cover.
One example could be to ask them to think about hotel star ratings; explain that they would expect more benefits from a 5 star hotel than a 1 star hotel and that insurance products work in the same way.
They may also be interested to know that independent financial research company Defaqto now has a star rating system for financial products – they can then compare what you are offering them with their current provider based on star rating.
Ensure the customer understands that by going it alone they are putting themselves at risk from a number of factors. They may have to pay compulsory excess in addition to their chosen excess or may find that they weren’t covered for something they thought they were.
Reassure them that you can talk them through the product so they understand exactly what they are covered for and agree how much excess they can afford to pay so there’s no surprise if they need to claim.
My final piece of advice would be to keep in touch with your clients. Emailing them every 3-6 months with some headline market news regarding home insurance is a great hook to promote your services.
Also remind them that if anything has changed in the last few months or if they are looking to review their product they can call you to discuss their requirements.
